18 replies to this topic

[otayBill]

How common are muggins and assaults in Tijuana?

I have not met anyone who has been a victim of this type of crime in Tijuana. I know more people who have been mugged in Los Angeles.

Do any members have any experiences?

[Buen Amigo]

Cannot comment, wife and i have been in TJ for 5 months, and so far nothing. Other than my car getting stolen. But muggings no. We did witness a fight, it's not a mugging but, we were walking down revolucion, and some guy was walking in front of us, and another guy was walking towards him. They kept looking at each other, and one of the guys say (in spanish) "what's up do i know you? do i owe you money? what are you looking at me for?" And bam from there they started fighting. 2 other guys jumped in, but as quickly as it started, it was also over. Couple of jabs in n out, and done. Kept going about their business. People walking around just stood still, watched the scene and kept on walking after it was all over.

For mugging i have not witnessed any nor would i want to be part of one...

[Rosarito Gary]

Been here since November and never seen a mugging. Seen a lot of muggings while living in las Vegas.......

[Danielle]

I have never witnessed a mugging nor been mugged but one day about a month ago I was walking in a residential area with my boyfriend and we encountered a dead body (the guy was shot), but there was no one around anywhere nearby. I havn't gone for a walk since then...

[George Costanza]

I witnessed one mugging and was the victim of a random assault. Thats in 7 years of TJ

[finero]

Beachie did nothing randomly ( Humor )

[George Costanza]

Beachie did nothing randomly ( Humor )

Maybe Sara kane can start a Stalker blog on Beachie ? - More humor

[TJ Owl]

How common are muggins and assaults in Tijuana?

I have not met anyone who has been a victim of this type of crime in Tijuana. I know more people who have been mugged in Los Angeles.

Do any members have any experiences?

I have been going to TJ for about 28 years. In that time I have lived there about 7 years. I have had three attempts at robbing me. The first was on Constitucion between First and Second at about 4AM. I attribute it to the time of day and having my head up my butt, thinking about someone elses problems. One of the two guys went to jail, in part because he ran right into a cop as he was fleeing. The second the guy got away with my camera on Second between Madero and Negrete about 10 PM. (OH, there were two guys here as well.) I chased him but finally lost him in a maze of alleys by the old Hospital Belen on Third. That was about 8 years ago. The third time was this past December on Ninos Heroes and Seventh about 11 PM. On this one one of the two guys lost his eye to my pen, so they gave up and ran away. I had just walked Casa de los Gatos to her place and was returning home when I noticed someone about a block behind me and closing fast. First a girl passed on my right and asked if I would "loan" her a cigarette. I said I didn't smoke. Then she asked for the time and I said it was about 11. Then a guy passed me on my right, talking load on his cell phone. When that happened I slowed down. Then he slowed down, so I sped up. When I sped up, so did he, so I crossed the street and grabbed my pen. He crossed the street and confronted me with some boxers shuffle then punched me in the face. That was when I hit him in the eye and felt his eye burst. He just stood there with half the pen in his eye. Then his buddy jumped me from behind. I went down and banged my face on the cement but the two had run off when I got up. No need to involve the police, he would remember my lesson for life.
About two weeks later, Casa de los Gatos was walking home across the pedestrian bridge over the river when her purse got snatched. That was New Years Eve about 9:30PM.
Most of the crimes are non-violent. They will case your house and break in when your not home. They will steal your car or (strangely) just your registration. They will steal the cat off your car. These thing are FAR more common that actual violent crimes. The guy that got shot MAY have been targeted because of a bad drug deal or the likes.
Taxi drivers are robbed, and KILLED with an alarming frequency, mostly in the early morning or late night shifts. Most taxi drivers won't even admit it, but if your speak spanish you can listen in and hear things sometimes.

[sdc]

Damn....nice work on the old pen in the eye move...Some guy tried to mug me once and he was about 7 inches shorter than me and tried the old choke hold from behind move, I bend over and lifted him off his feet the jumped on my back while throwing my elbow. I heard ribs crack and he didn't move much after that his friend just starting dragging him away...saying, "no mas, no mas"....

[GaryN]

You guys are my heroes. Pen to the eye, cracking ribs!!!I would be a easy assault victim because of my size but hasn't happened yet.

[xolotl]

How common are muggins and assaults in Tijuana?
I have not met anyone who has been a victim of this type of crime in Tijuana. I know more people who have been mugged in Los Angeles.
Do any members have any experiences?

I have been coming to Tijuana since 1971, often walking alone from the border to "5 y 10" and back. I lived briefly in the Bellas Artes section of Otay about ten years ago and I have been living continuously in Colonia Libertad for four and a half years. The only time I might have been mugged or assaulted was a few years back, at the end of Jorge Hank Rohn's administration, but I was released unharmed after citing the Mexican Constitution's prohibition against warrantless imprisonment.

Did I forget to mention that my assailants were municipal police in Jorge Hank's employ?

Otherwise, the only crimes I have suffered have been petty theft committed by people who iniststed on speaking English ... because their Spanish is so faulty!

More crimes were committed against me when I lived in San Marcos and Los Angeles than here in Tijuana.

X

[Scooby]

But....... do you look like a gringo or like you "don't belong" ?
Some of us feel as though it's hard to blend in.
Honestly though, I don't know how much difference that would make (for better or worse).

Btw, it doesn't surprise me about Hank's security.
Some part of him is reputed to have offed a critical journalist or two.

[TJ Owl]

Critical Journalist or two??? I never heard anything about "El Gato Felix" or the presidential candidate shot in Lomas Taurinos tam poco. And I can not answer any questions about his private zoo of endangered species or the two White Tiger cubs seized at the border going INTO Tijuana. I find these accusations to be SHOCKING.

But....... do you look like a gringo or like you "don't belong" ?
Some of us feel as though it's hard to blend in.
Honestly though, I don't know how much difference that would make (for better or worse).

Btw, it doesn't surprise me about Hank's security.
Some part of him is reputed to have offed a critical journalist or two.

[sdc]

Our the party he throws each year where he dresses up his monkey's like jockey's and has them ride greyhounds like a horse race....no lie...

[sdc]

In my life I've been only mugged once outside of Tijuana and 3 attempts in Tijuana...and that instance which was in Eugene, OR the guy had the where with all to use a gun, so I wasn't forced to have to fight...just gave him my money he turned around and walked away...

[RosaritoRosie]

Just have to chime in here with my 2 cents!
I saw a LOT more stuff while working in Sacramento two blocks from the capitol and experienced gawdawful crap on the light rail system.
I must say that the worst thing that has happened to me down here was while I was walking home with an armload of freshly laundered clothes when I experienced a hearty swat on my butt. Given that I am not one to take such behavior lightly, I whirled around ready to drop my clothes when I saw the perpetrator: a kid on a bicycle - likely 11 or 12 - pedaling and laughing. I, too, could not help but ... laugh.

[otayBill]

Someone I know who works at the Plaza Carrosole just told me employees have been mugged leaving there late at night and walking to 5 & 10 to catch a ruta taxi. He said 5 & 10 (cinco y diez) is a dangerous area at night because, like the centro, there is a lot of anonymous movement of people.

[bajashrink]

Someone I know who works at the Plaza Carrosole just told me employees have been mugged leaving there late at night and walking to 5 & 10 to catch a ruta taxi. He said 5 & 10 (cinco y diez) is a dangerous area at night because, like the centro, there is a lot of anonymous movement of people.

A friend of mine who has lived in the same apartment complex in Otay for a number of years got mugged for the first time a couple of weeks ago. He was just a block from home on foot at about 9 p.m. when a couple of guys jumped out of car and one put a knife to his throat. He turned over his wallet and cell phone, whereupon they took off without harming him.

Overall, street muggings in Tj aren't epidemic. Just like with other major cities, it's primarily a random situation of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, although there certainly are some neighborhoods more dangerous and crime-ridden than others.

[xolotl]

Since my last post on this thread, I was robbed. Not mugged or assaulted, but robbed.

I met a guy on the street in front of my home who insisted on speaking English. Okay, so his Spanish wasn't all that good, and he was clearly from El Otro Lado. Sob story about getting deported on a technicality. Could I help him out? He knows important people who could also help me. He needs to take a pee, can he use my bathroom? Once inside my home he says he needs clothing, do I have anything I've been thinking of giving to the Goodwill? While I'm upstairs looking for clothes for him he's in my living room and kitchen stealing my passport, my cell phone, and my gold jewelry.

Moral of this story?

Don't trust people in Mexico who insist on speaking English. English-speakers can always get a job as a translator if they need to, so why are they playing you?

Don't invite anyone into your home unless they can be watched at all times. As a pediatrician once told me, "El hambre es perra." Poor people will steal simply to eat.

But people who were deported from the United Snakes will steal just to steal.

Seriously, folks, people who speak English here in Mexico have one strike against them from the outset. When you lived in the United Snakes you wanted people to speak English, and now it's time to give the devil his due. In Mexico real people speak Spanish. Real con men speak English to make you feel comfortable. Ever since Ed "Gold-Tooth" Johnson, you betcha.

(Gold-Tooth gave his name to Cañon Johnson, just off Constitución at Ninth, from the brandy distillery he built there in the 1920s. He also tried to develop Playas as the next great gambiling casino but it didn't catch on. He left history in prison in the United States from having violated the Mann Act.)

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